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2015 was a year of success for our team for sure! As a meritocratic business, positions of seniority within the company are only allocated to those who have worked their way up from the very bottom, proving that they know our business models and campaigns inside and out. In the last week before Christmas, we were thrilled to announce that Conrad Swift – from our Manchester branch – was to be promoted to the position of Campaign Manager.

We couldn’t be prouder of everything Conrad has achieved – both personally and professionally – in such a short space of time, and we decided to catch up with him to get down to the nitty-gritty of his journey to Campaign Management. Here’s what he had to say…

So, Conrad, how does it feel to be a Campaign Manager?

Getting promoted is pretty indescribable. There’s many words I can think of such as; amazing, incredible, awesome. But the truth is, putting it into words wouldn’t do the feeling any justice. You imagine it happening, but nothing comes close to the great sense of pride and achievement you actually feel for, not only yourself, but your teammates as well.

What did you feel your biggest challenge was working your way up the career ladder?

My biggest challenge coming through the field was keeping things simple. I very often overthought everything. I used to think that it couldn’t be as easy as following a couple of simple systems and working hard. Once I started simplifying things and working the systems, that’s when I really began to progress.

Do you have any advice for those starting out with The Interactive Team this year?

Best advice for someone new… Listen, learn and most importantly, APPLY! I was guilty of often thinking that if I listened to advice and wrote it down, I would naturally just start doing it. You have to make a conscious effort to put what you learn into practice. Learn from the best and apply it with a stronger work ethic and more positive attitude and you’ll soon see the results

So what was it that actually initially attracted you to the role here with The Interactive Team?

I’ve done a few things since leaving school so I understand that in any business, you have to work hard, regardless of the industry. What attracted me to my role at the interactive team was that I can progress based on merit. So the harder I worked the faster I could progress

What was it you were doing before you joined the business?

Before I started at Manchester active, I was a diagnostic technician for BMW. I did an apprenticeship which was great as I was learning a lot. Once I had completed my apprenticeship, I continued working hard but hit a glass ceiling and couldn’t continue progressing. I’m too ambitious to waste time allowing someone else dictate my progress.

Now what are your next set of goals?

My goals moving forward… Directorship is my next goal. I’m not slowing down. Mid-term goal is to open up my own office by the summer. Long-term goal is to have my organisation global and travel around to my offices and consulting as a Vice President.

Any thoughts on the future for The Interactive Team as a whole?

The future of the interactive team is very bright! We are only currently at 3% of where we need to be at the moment. I visualise the organisation working in every different sector and operating all over the world! The potential of what we can achieve is limitless. It’s beyond exciting!!

Congratulations Conrad – hard work pays off!

The Interactive Team has become a success for one key reason, because we put other people first. The needs of our clients, our customers, our events and our team always come before our own and guess what – it doesn’t stop there! When it comes to this time of year, sure we’ve a lot going on in the offices – what with our Annual Awards Ceremony amongst other things – but we never forget about giving back to our communities.

The Interactive Team’s buzzing head office is right in the heart of Glasgow city centre so we wanted to look into ways that we could do our bit this Christmas time. When it comes to our corporate social responsibility, we’re all about the children. Without sounding too cliche, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that the children are, in fact, the future, and all of us here strongly believe that we should do everything we can to help those young ones who are much less fortunate than ourselves.

We got to thinking – it’s coming up to Christmas – and what are we most excited for? Sure, there’s spending time with family, drinking and being merry, a bit of time off work, but it’s no surprise that the majority spoke up and said presents. We began to wonder just how many children weren’t going to wake up to a gift on Christmas morning – a childhood memory fond in all of our minds!

After our chat, we discovered Project Present Govanhill. This fantastic campaign has been designed to bring present to some of the most vulnerable children in the area of Govanhill – a deprived district in the Glasgow area. We couldn’t think of a better cause! We all got together at The Interactive Team HQ to buy gifts for young children aged 5-9 and we must admit, the Marketing department seemed to have a lot of fun wrapping them to!

It was an honour and a pleasure for The Interactive Team’s CEO – Gilles Baudet – to deliver our bundles of gifts to the Project Present HQ and he said that: “I love things like this. It’s too easy for people to think too much about what they have at Christmas and forget about what others don’t. It’s been a great opportunity for The Interactive Team to give back this year knowing that some vulnerable children will be able to open presents on Christmas morning. There’s so much more I want to do to give back to our Glasgow community so no doubt, next year we’ll find new ways. We definitely want to get involved in food banks amongst other things. We just hope our small contribution has made a big difference to children in the Govanhill area”

The Interactive Team are thrilled to announce that our newest Campaign Manager for our Manchester branch is none other than Ross Macleod!

We are completely astounded at all the changes (for the better might we add!) that The Interactive Team has seen this year. We’ve brought new clients on board, we’ve opened offices in new cities and some of our top consultants have seen themselves promoted to positions of Management within the company, and even though we’re nearing the end of 2015, we’ve certainly not slowed down.

Friday 4th November saw Manchester’s top consultant – Ross Macleod – joining the national Management team as the newest Campaign Manager within our Manchester branch. In his new role, Ross will be exclusively responsible for new client campaigns and driving a large sales and lead generation force to deliver great results, and it’s safe to say he’s pretty excited to do so!

Ross joined The Interactive Team in July 2014. Coming from a background in landscape gardening and manual labour, we could instantly see that Ross definitely wasn’t someone who was afraid of hard work – something which he prides himself on. He joined the business as a Trainee Sales Consultant wanting to steer his career in a completely new direction. Ross had big goals and more importantly, big potential, and he knew that by continuing working in his current job, he simply wasn’t going to get where he wanted to go.

Since day one, Ross has proved that there really is nothing he can’t do. Come rain, hail or shine, Ross’ determination and dedication to the success of his career meant that he’s always worked hard and smart to ensure that he was constantly learning, developing, improving and above all, progressing.

The Interactive Team – as we’re sure you’re pretty well aware by this point – is a meritocratic business. This means that everyone involved can work their way up the career ladder based on merit, not seniority, time or ‘who you know’. Ross took the bull by the horns and knew that if he continued to give that extra 10% to everything he did, it would pay off and wouldn’t you know it – it has!

Ross has definitely experienced great highs and massive lows over the last 16 months – it’s definitely not been plain sailing – but his attitude, endeavour and determination kept him going. Ross is a fun, hard-working guy and a great addition to The Interactive Team’s management board. We’re thrilled to have seen just how far he’s come personally and professionally over the last year and a half, but we’re certain he’s not going to stop there.

Congratulations Ross – welcome to the Management Team!

Everyone at The Interactive Team got together this week to celebrate the 35th birthday of our brilliant CEO, Gilles Baudet.

If you hadn’t guessed by now, The Interactive Team are big on, well, our team! We love any excuse to celebrate, eat cake, drink champers and more importantly, get together to make videos! So, in regular fashion, with the approach of the birthday of our Chief Executive Officer – Gilles Baudet – we decided to give him a video with a twist! I mean, of course, we all think of him as the best boss in the business but we thought it might be a fun idea to go a “little overboard” this time…

No holding back on that one eh? At the age of 35, Gilles has achieved so much but as he continues to tell us over and over (and over) again, he’s not even started yet. In 2012, after experiencing years in different sectors of the sales and marketing industry, Gilles grabbed his credit card and 2 amazing salesmen he’d met along the way (that’s right – Huw and Karl) and launched The Interactive Team. Now, just over 3 years on, what was once just 3 people in a tiny office, is now over 200 people across 5 major UK cities. For Gilles, each birthday is a significant reminder of a) how far he has come and b) how far he has to go, and he continues to tell us that he definitely doesn’t want to do it alone!

Gilles has always loved and admired his team around him, and we’re all pretty thrilled to have formed a business built up purely of average people with the above average desire to succeed. We all have unique opportunities within the company, and we couldn’t be more grateful for that and guess what? It’s all thanks to the birthday boy for making it happen!

Happy birthday Gilles – we all hope you had a wonderful 35th birthday!

2015 has been a massive year for The Interactive Team and we’re thrilled to announce that Billy Ritchie from our Newcastle branch is now our newest Campaign Manager in the North East!

Billy joined the Newcastle team just over a year ago – by team – I mean Managing Director, Karl Clough. When we first opened our doors for business in the city of Newcastle, we were – of course – looking to recruit average individuals with the above average desire to succeed, and along came Billy. He was one of the very first consultants to join the Newcastle team and since then, he has proved himself to be an integral asset to the business.

Before joining The Interactive Team in 2015, Billy was much more hands-on with his job roles and did everything from construction to painting and decorating. Billy noticed in himself that he always wanted a bit more out of life, and that his drive and determination to do well was becoming pretty wasted in his current industry. He did, however, prove that he could put his hand to anything and work hard to achieve great results – something he continues to do now!

In his new role as a Campaign Manager, Billy will first and foremost be responsible for the running of lead generation campaigns within the Newcastle branch and ultimately, driving a large sales force to generate outstanding results for a number of blue-chip clients. Not only this, but Billy will now take part in joining our in-house Business Course where he will be spending a great deal of time with the Board of Directors to learn all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into running a successful, profitable business.

The Interactive Team’s CEO, Gilles Baudet, commented on Billy’s promotion, saying: “I don’t want to take anything away from Billy’s achievement, but it wasn’t really a surprise to us when he received this promotion. Billy is a hard-working, determined and driven young man with an absolutely unbreakable attitude. His perseverance has proven to everyone around him that with the right work ethic and the right attitude, you can move mountains in this business. That’s why I love our industry, and above all, our company – because it’s a meritocracy. Our team are promoted on merit alone, so if you work hard, have fun and never lose sight of your goals, you can achieve anything and Billy has proved exactly that. As a team, we are extremely proud to have Billy on the management team but more than anything, we’re excited to see just how far he’ll go within the company and we’re behind him every step of the way”

Massive congratulations Billy, and it’s clear to see that your career with The Interactive Team has only just begun!

Before we even think about business, The Interactive Team is – in fact – a team. A team made up of hard-working, ambitious, motivated, enthusiastic individuals, but the people that make up our brilliant bunch certainly didn’t just pop up out of the ground like daisies. No, our team had to be grown and developed by our in-house recruitment team and boy, what a great job they are doing!

Obviously recognition – and recruitment – are a massive part of what makes our company what it is today, so with this in mind, The Interactive Team has introduced a “Recruiter of the Month” award to recognise the efforts of our talented recruiters who work hard and smart to find the best people to join our business. We are now delighted to announce that the first winner of this is Dundee’s Recruitment Manager – Toni Benjamin – and we decided to catch up with Toni to get her thoughts on recruitment and indeed the month gone by…

So Toni, congratulations on winning our very first “Recruiter of the Month” award! How does it feel?

It feels amazing. I love my job because I’m always finding new talent to join the business and I get such a buzz from giving people opportunities to build careers with us.

How long have you been working in our Recruitment team now?

I started in the sales department in January working in the Dundee branch, and when the opportunity came about to join the recruitment team, I jumped at it. I’ve been working in recruitment since June now, time’s absolutely flying by but I’m loving it.

What’s been the most challenging aspect of the role so far?

I think the most challenging aspect is probably finding the right candidates for the roles. Obviously, each opportunity isn’t for everyone so I want to make sure that the candidates coming in have the right determination to be successful for both the business and themselves. I want everyone coming into the business to realise that there’s a genuine career path here for them, just like I did.

So what’s the most enjoyable thing about working in recruitment?

I just love being able to offer life changing opportunities to people. It’s a great feeling to see our guys thrive within the role and knowing you played a helping hand in getting them there. It’s incredible seeing people who came into their roles quite timid, then all of a sudden you see them flourish and become great leaders. I suppose you get the chance to see the professional and personal development first-hand and that’s a really positive thing to be a part of.

You won the “Recruiter of the Month” award for October. What’s went so well last month?

There’s an incredible atmosphere within the office at the moment, which has been created by an amazing bunch of ambitious individuals, so seeing just how motivated they are really motivates me to help others enjoy the same success!

Congratulations Toni – your efforts to find the perfect candidates to join our business certainly haven’t gone unnoticed, and your enthusiasm and endeavour continue to prove that you’re an asset to our company and a credit to yourself! Well done!

At The Interactive Team, we pride ourselves on being able to offer that little bit more to our team members who show promise and potential in their field. Stacey Smith – our Head of HR/Recruitment – joined our business at the very start and initially, with a small team in the Glasgow office, Stacey was involved with pretty small scale admin and recruitment based tasks.

Now, 3 years on, Stacey has progressed her career to the point at which she is now Head of the HR/Recruitment, with a team behind her whom she has hired and trained across the nation. The Interactive Team is a meritocratic business, meaning no one gets promoted on length of time they’ve been at the company, or wealth of experience, individuals are simply promoted on their own merit, which is exactly what’s happened to Stacey.

As we reach the end of 2015 and a profitable year for The Interactive Team, Stacey is taking our working lives to the next level by developing our company culture. She noticed a gap in the business when it came to introducing more initiatives as a means of rewarding and recognising the efforts of all employees. Since taking on her additional role in HR, Stacey has taken on the responsibility of enhancing our company culture.

When asked about this change, Stacey said: “Company culture? I’ve got this in the bag!” She knows exactly what we do, why we do it and what our team need and deserve. Since taking culture under her wing, we’ve seen more and more initiatives introduced, and the Marketing team have taken great pride in promoting life at The Interactive Team online!

The Interactive Team employees now get involved; in a staff night out every 6 weeks, rewards for certain roles have come in to play – for instance ‘recruiter of the month’, branded gifts to welcome new team members, and even ‘Fat Fridays’ are now enjoyed by all – a sweet end to the week we think!

Stacey continues to find new and exciting ways to improve our employee engagement and ensure that everyone is involved with new and existing initiatives. After all, at The Interactive Team, one of our biggest mottos is to ‘work hard and have fun’, and when it comes to our company culture, it seems Stacey has really hit the nail on the head!

When asked about her role within The Interactive Team, Stacey says; “this is only the beginning. I have a lot of responsibilities within the team, but I’ll always want to develop each one and continue to work my way up the career ladder. I want to be able to offer everyone an opportunity, and not just career wise. An opportunity to enjoy working life and be part of a ever-expanding team!”

Well done on all your hard work so far Stacey, and we’re behind you all the way!

At The Interactive Team, we pride ourselves on our company culture of giving average people, with the above average desire to succeed, opportunities to build strong, long-lasting, high yielding careers with a fun and friendly working environment. When people join The Interactive Team, it’s not just your standard 9-5 role. We’re all here to build the business and more importantly, enhance our own professional careers.

Mashaal Malik joined The Interactive Team HQ in Glasgow just a few months ago as an administrator. With so many clients and team members, we needed a little more help on the admin side of things and we were thrilled that Mashaal accepted the offer of a position in a our head office to do exactly that.

Mashaal went to university and has had various job roles over the years, but she knew that her strongest skills were organisation, work ethic, and numbers. At The Interactive Team, it’s clear we all have our strengths and our weaknesses. As the Marketing Manager, my talent lies in the creative side of the industry – words and pictures are my forte – so there’s no way I could excel at the role Mashaal took, and it’s safe to say she is flourishing!

From day one, Mashaal got stuck right into her role in the Admin Department and proved that she was the best person for the job. With this in mind, we wanted to offer her more as we knew she had so much to give. As our company continues to expand, so do internal operations, meaning there would be a much wider scope of tasks to be completed and we knew that Mashaal would be fully capable of developing professionally to undertake extra responsibilities and ultimately, form a stable career as part of The Interactive Team.

Mashaal is now training to be a book-keeper and it’s safe to say she is loving it. It’s a sector of the industry she’d had limited experience in in the past, so she was more than keen to take on training to learn and build upon her own knowledge so that she could make a bigger contribution to the successful running of our business.

This is why we’re so excited everyday. The people at The Interactive Team HQ are ambitious and hungry to develop both personally and professionally whilst contributing to the ongoing success of our company. We are more than willing to provide our people with the tools, the finance and the training they need so that they can see a real future in their career, and all we ask for in return is the hard work and effort needed to create something special.

Well done Mashaal – we’re all proud of what you have brought to the business so far and we’re excited to see you build your career with The Interactive Team. Good luck!

CEO Gilles Baudet “Why We’re Creating Something Special”

It’s no secret as to why The Interactive Team stands out from the crowd. It’s because our Chief Executive Officer, Gilles Baudet, believes that our business is changing peoples’ lives and the proof is there.

The Interactive Team all began with our CEO, Gilles Baudet, and his vision to revolutionise the outsource marketing industry and ultimately, create something special that everyone involved could be proud of. In just 3 short year, we have seen massive changes within our company – the business model, the locations, the size, the culture and more significantly, in the team. I am a strong advocate of our ideology and I am proud to be play an integral role in creating something special but I couldn’t help but wonder as to why we were doing this. I asked our CEO Gilles Baudet and here’s what he had to say…

“As the business has grown over 3 years, it’s clear to see we are changing people’s lives, and the proof is there, you can see it right in front of you! This is why I’m so excited every day. This business gives average people, with the above average desire to succeed, the unique opportunity to build strong, stable, long-lasting, high-yielding, exciting careers and ultimately, lives. I can’t believe the changes I’ve seen since day one, it’s just incredible.

Take Huw and Karl for example. When we started the business in March 2012, they were sharing a room in hostel, but never lost sight of their goals. They continued to put all their efforts into working hard, learning, developing and more importantly, never giving up.

Now, 3 years on, Huw is running a successful business in Manchester, and not to mention he’s living in a luxury apartment in the prestigious Hilton hotel, and Karl is managing his highly profitable business in the city of Newcastle, and living the high life in a penthouse overlooking the River Tyne. How things change! In just 3 short years, their lives have changed and not just financially. They have acquired valuable experience and developed their business acumen to a massively high level, and they now have choices they never had before.

This business is so fast-paced, and if the business is moving quickly, so are people’s careers and lives. Look at Jonathan and Joel. Both began working with our Glasgow office and now, they are running successful businesses in the UK’s capital city of London. Things are changing, people are changing, lives are changing, and it’s all because of the business. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not an easy ride for anyone when it comes to success, but it’s definitely worth it!”

So, you’ve made it this far ay? Well done. Feel proud. It’s easy enough to look back at some small successes and start to feel pretty full of yourself and that’s fine. However, I’m sure you know as well as I do that life has a unique way to knock us back down off our pedestals in a catastrophic fashion.

The Great South Run I took part in was held in Portsmouth in 2013. My decision to partake in a charitable sporting event such as this was arrived at only after a tussle with my conscience. Should I leave it out as I simply don’t have the time or should I get stuck in because it’s for charity? My heart strings pulled tighter as I opted for the latter. I was never the fittest girl in the bunch but I knew full well that I was certainly the most determined and tenacious. So with this in mind, training began. Every day after work, I would take myself for a good run down by the canals, timing myself in order to monitor my progress. The smile on my face (and the sweat on my brow) continued to grow as I noted myself making progress each day. I knew full well at this point that, out of my friends, I was definitely the one putting all the work in and I wouldn’t feel the least bit smug at the finish line when I came first out of us all.

I continued to train on a daily basis and even treated myself to some top of the range running gear (you know, just so that I’d look the part as I claimed my victory). The day finally came and the 6 of us were dolled up to the nines in lycra and sweatbands. I had put so much effort into preparing for the event and I felt comfortably assured that I would surpass my friends’ expectations, as well as the finish line. The gun went off, and we were off. I had done my research. I saw hundreds of people darting off and I found myself thinking “fools, slow and steady wins the race!” As I hit the half way mark, I started to feel myself struggling. How? How was I struggling? I had done so much training and put so much effort into being the best, and people continued to overtake me. I pushed on and on and finally, the finishing line was visible. I sped up and blitzed towards the banner, sailing through and breathing a massive sigh of relief and accomplishment. However, much to my dismay, there they were. My 5 friends. Sat down. Waiting. Waiting for me.

It’s a truth no one likes to admit: no matter how successful, how hard-working or accomplished you are (as an individual or as a business owner), there is ALWAYS someone who is better than you. No matter whether they’re smarter, wittier, prettier, fitter, more advanced, more wealthy, more experienced… there is always someone. Yes – I know – it’s certainly not the best feeling in the world to come to terms with, but once you do, definitely don’t let it get you down rather use it as a driving force.

After the run, I was initially horrified that I hadn’t come first out of us all, albeit slightly disappointed in myself, then I got to thinking. We had all done this in aid of a fantastic cause whilst keeping fit and healthy in the meantime, which I hadn’t done previously but much to my surprise, I enjoyed greatly. After careful consideration, I decided to take up running as a hobby and even found the humility to ask one of my friends to run with me to spur me on.

The most successful people in the world are ridiculously humble about most things, but in particular, their skills, talents and attributes. The difference is that successful people will gladly recognise that there are other people out there who are better than them, and they use it as an opportunity to learn, develop, progress and improve. I really don’t think people realise just how important a trait humility is. Undoubtedly, there will come a day where you think “I’ve made it” and it’s par for the course that at this point, you take your foot off the gas which inevitably leads to fading talents and regression.

If you genuinely have a burning desire to become successful, you will certainly find yourself grabbin’ a big chunk of humble pie every day so that the person you are tomorrow will be a phenomenal improvement on the person you are today.